Breeder Reactors With a Fast Neutron Spectrum

Abstract

Breeder reactors with a fast neutron spectrum have a sufficiently high breeding ratio to attain a fuel utilization of more than 60% which is almost by a factor of 100 higher than that of present light water reactors. They can operate on the U-238/Pu-239 or on the Th-232/U-233 breeding process and utilize depleted or natural uranium or thorium. In this way they can open up an energy potential with the existing uranium and thorium reserves which can last for many thousand years. Construction of breeder reactors began in the USA, the UK and the former Soviet Union already before 1960. Their development started with small test reactors and continued with the construction and operation of prototype power reactors of unit sizes of 300 MW(e) up to 1,250 MW(e) in the USA, Europe, Russia, India and Japan. This proved their technical feasibility. Fast breeder reactors with a fast neutron spectrum use sodium or in more recent designs lead or a lead-bismuth-eutecticum (LBE) as a coolant. Plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, but also metallic alloys and nitride fuel were developed for the fuel of fast breeder reactors. At present the small test reactors JOYO (Japan) and BOR 60 (Russia) and the fast breeder reactor BN 600 in Russia are operating since several decades whereas MONJU (Japan) is close to full power operation and BN 800 as well as SVBR/75/100 in Russia and PFBR (India) are under construction. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.